Appreciating Trent's nuances

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

Most Catholics know what the Council of Trent (1545-63) did - particularly its mandating of the Latin Tridentine Rite Mass. Not so fast, says Fr. John O'Malley, SJ, a professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

The Tridentine Mass was ordered by Pope Pius V (1566-72), who did not attend Trent, Fr. O'Malley writes in "Trent and Vernacular Liturgy" (America, 1/29/07).

As for Latin, Trent made only two brief mentions of liturgical language, Fr. O'Malley said. They neither mandate Latin nor deny its appropriateness, and even indicate that the vernacular tongue could be acceptable.

Nor did Trent limit Communion to only the form of bread for laity. Indeed, it said reception under both forms could be acceptable for some reasons in some places and Pope Pius IV (1560-65) allowed it in much of the Holy Roman Empire.

Another hot issue at Trent was clerical celibacy, which Trent took up only its last months, Fr. O'Malley said. It passed two canons that can be seen as favoring a celibate clergy, he wrote, but "it never said celibacy was obligatory, nor did it say that it was to be retained as the discipline of the church. It left the matter open." It was Pius V who "definitely reasserted mandatory celibacy for clergy and religious," Fr. O'Malley said.

Clearly history is far more interesting and complicated than what we often believe.